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Monday, February 19, 2018

Listening to lots of good music on Spotify and some of my favorite Podcasts

Starting a new to me tv series on Netflix

Only one episode down so the jury is still out. But I am liking it so far.
My husband and I usually watch one or two series together and we are into this one right now...

So weird in so many ways, but it's kind of got us hooked wanting to see what happens next.

Exercising at least six days a week and giving myself the option of one day off if I feel I need the break.
Just finished the Yoga with Adriene...

It was amazing and I made so much progress throughout this series! I highly recommend her yoga channel on YouTube.

Drinking

lots of Hint water. No affiliate links here. I just like to share what I love, and I really do love this water. It's a little pricey, but so good and natural. It's been a great substitute for soda. You can find it at Target, too a little cheaper and on sale sometimes. But normally I just order directly from their site.

Working a little bit more than usual as a substitute teacher at a more regular position. It's a challenge for sure. I have to say that I am in awe of women who work full time. During the weeks I work 4+ days, I am still trying to find a nice balance of working outside of the home and then actually getting things done around the house. I like to have those two or three days off during the week to clean house, run errands and just stay caught up. But oh how I love being back in a classroom again! And I also love that Pinterest is a huge help with lessons.

Last week we were studying Adverbs and it just wasn't clicking. The book we are working out of isn't that great. And on top of that, it's really not the easiest concept for second graders to grasp. But I found this idea on Pinterest...

and they loved it! Anna Adverb was a great supplement to our lesson. So Pinterest for the win!

Wearing these shoes...

my black Palisades slip on sneakers by Roxy. They are so comfortable and remind me of our trip to London this past summer. Definitely love them!

Thinking I can't be the only person on Instagram with two accounts who forgets to switch over before posting. I can name at least four times in the past week or so when I posted a photo to my public account instead of the private family one. At least I caught my mistake pretty quickly each time, but I need to be more mindful of which account I am on before posting. It's kind of like accidentally sending a text meant for someone else to the last person you were texting with. I do that more frequently than I would like as well. Thankfully, it's never been anything too crazy.

And finally...Feeling sad and shocked at yet another school shooting, this time in Florida. But also feeling angry at how some people continue to come up with the worst solutions possible to the problem. One I keep reading about is the need to arm teachers and support staff in the schools. Worst idea ever and one that avoids the real issue. This should not be the norm. We should not be turning this into something that is just accepted as reality for this day and age. Something needs to be done to prevent this from happening ever again. And arming people who are not comfortable with weapons is a huge mistake. I'm not going to go into the politics of it all right now. At some point I may get on my soapbox and make a lengthy post on my position. But for now, I am encouraged to see students and young adults finally taking a stand and telling our government, this is NOT ok. And I will be watching closely and paying attention to which of our congressmen and women actually work towards making the changes necessary to move us in the right direction. And I will be very active in contacting my senators and state reps. I promise you that.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

I found this quote on Pinterest and it clicked with me so much that I added it to a board I created on there called "My Music".

I have been such a music junkie my whole life. In fact, I can't remember a time when I didn't love to listen to music. I have vivid memories of dancing in the living room of my Nana's house to Abba's Dancing Queen when I was a little girl. It was one of my favorite songs!

These days my taste in music can be pretty eclectic. I could probably find at least one song from every genre that I would like. But I do tend to lean more towards rock, classic rock and alternative.

Now that we have Spotify premium, just like the quote says, I really do have a playlist for everything. Most of my playlists are pretty upbeat but I do have a "One of Those Days" playlist for when I'm feeling not so great.

One of my current favorite playlists is called "All in One Place" and has music from three of my favorite bands who all just happened to release new albums around the same time recently. I went through and picked my favorite songs from those albums and now I can just shuffle that playlist and listen to them all in a row.

That playlist got me thinking about my favorite bands right now.

I always joke with my husband, that spots one and two will be forever taken by U2 and Radiohead. That never changes. I will love U2 till the end of time. They are my all time favorite band and I explained why in this post, The Road to U2 Joshua Tree 2017. So much history for me as well as my husband with this band.

My second top pick is Radiohead. In my opinion, they are musical geniuses. I have been following them ever since Pablo Honey came out back in 1993 and continue to love them to this day. Unfortunately, they rarely come close to here for concerts. But I was able to surprise my husband with tickets to see them as a birthday gift many years ago. They weren't the best seats, but we still say it was one of the best concerts ever!

As for my number three spot, that is always up for grabs. I have rotated quite a few bands through it over the years. Since 2013, it has been The National. My husband is definitely even more of a music junkie than I am and he has introduced me to a lot of amazing bands over the years! The National is one of them. And frankly, though I don't like to share a lot of personal info here, I credit some of the National's music with helping us in a not so easy time in our marriage. We had one year or so that was just awful. I was struggling with depression and he was having to travel so much for work at the same time. It was pretty hard on both of us, and we just weren't talking at all. But The National have a song called "About Today", and the lyrics really caught my attention.

We both realized we had a lot of talking to do and thankfully in the process, we also both realized we really missed and love each other and that all we wanted was to be happy again. We had just kind of gotten lost for a bit. It's funny what you can learn from lyrics when they are just right. And we learned that successful, happy marriages need lots of good communication! It has really made all the difference! Like I said, I believe talk about my marriage is personal and private. But I am so proud of how we overcame a major obstacle and came together instead of growing apart. We even say as hard as it was, it's something we had to go through to get to where we are now!

So the National have a special place in my heart. And with the release of their new album, "Sleep Well Beast", it doesn't look like they will be leaving third place. I absolutely love them!

But for the first time ever, I am having to let two bands/musicians have the number three position. I can't let go of The National, but I am also totally loving Noel Gallagher!

Can't stand his brother, but I think Noel is brilliant. And when he opened for U2 in Amsterdam and Brussels this summer, I started listening to him again. I absolutely loved almost every song on his album Chasing Yesterday - especially Riverman, The Dying of the Light, and You Know We Can't Go Back.
So as of right now Noel and The National hold that special third spot in my top three favorite bands of all time.

Now I will admit, that my husband is usually the one who finds the good new music. I tend to listen to old favorites. I have playlists for classic rock, the 80's, alternative music from the 90's and soundtracks. But recently I shared a band with him that I've been listening to called...

Highly Suspect. I heard their song "Little One" on a local alternative radio station here and it caught my attention. They are more of a harder post grunge rock, but my husband admitted tonight that he's kind of liking them. Lol.

It's always fun to play songs for each other. We like to talk to each other through music quite a bit.

I even have a playlist of songs he sends me. That one is private though ;)

So what type of music do you like?
Do you have a top three list as well?
I'm thinking now that I typed out this post, that I probably should document my favorites in a layout. :)

Monday, February 5, 2018

In my last post I shared photos of my introduction pages for my One Little Word album.
I haven't quite finished my January Self Care goal pages, but since it is now February I did want to at least share the next goal and project I will be creating for February.

In my One Little Word class with Ali Edwards, she is encouraging us to make a vision board to help us connect visually with our word. I have a head start because being the Pinterest junkie I am, I had already started a OLW board there. So I am going to design a collage of some of the pins I want to use and put it in my album.

Here are a few ideas I am thinking of adding to my vision board:

This is so true for me! In the past I have simply run myself into the ground trying to get everything done and care for everyone else! I got smart this time around when I was sick two weeks ago. I took time off work and pretty much rested for two days. As a result, I got better quicker than I ever have before.

I want to include this pin because I truly feel as if 2018 is going to be amazing. I have such great plans for this year, and I feel energized about every single one of them.

I know these two pins are really similar and I will probably just end up picking one for my vision board. But they both resonate with me. It has taken me a while, in fact probably the whole fifteen years I have been a mother, to realize that taking care of myself is not selfish. It's necessary!

Oh how my anxiety fights me on this one. But I'm learning.

I saw an article yesterday with a quote that basically said, don't compare your own beginning to someone else's middle. And it made me think, we all have to start somewhere, right? For example, by comparing my progress and where I am at in my Body Pump class to that of my teacher would just be crazy. She has been doing this type of workout for years, and I am just a newbie. It wouldn't make sense to feel down on myself because I don't have her abilities yet! But I'm making progress for sure!

This is the secret! I have heard that to really make a change and develop new habits, you need to give it at least 21 days. I am hoping that my monthly self care goal plan will help me do just that. Change one thing in my daily routine each month that will improve my physical, mental and emotional health! And that those changes will stick as I see how much better I feel at the end of each month.

And I love this! Such a positive perspective, which is what 2018 is about for me. Look for the positive and don't dwell on the negatives.

So I know this might sound like the the opposite of Self Care, but in February my goal is Relationships. Namely nurturing my relationships. I am surrounded by so many supportive people, that I feel very lucky. I know by building up my relationships with the people I love and care about, that I am going to be doing something to help myself as well. I want to put more positive energy into the way I interact with my friends, family, co workers and students.

One way I am trying to do this is by practicing active listening. When someone talks to me, I am making an effort to give all of my attention and avoiding distractions. I am really wanting to engage in meaningful conversations to learn more about what matters the most to the people who matter the most. My husband is seriously into cycling right now and I have learned so much about his interest this past year. It feels good to be supportive and gain knowledge about something he is so passionate about!

I am also planning on putting together some Self Care baskets for friends and family throughout the month. Nothing big. Just a little something to say I am thinking of you. I found the idea on Pinterest. Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest? lol

And even though January is over, I am still planning on exercising six times per week with one rest day. Whether it's yoga, strength training or cardio at home, the YMCA or walking outdoors, I am going to keep that good habit going strong!

Hopefully coming up next post, my completed January goal pages for my album!

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Well being pretty sick for almost a week, didn't leave me much energy for the blog. But I am finally ready to share a scrapbook project I will be working on each month this year
As I talked about in This Post, my One Little Word I chose for 2018 is "Self Care". Since I am participating in Ali Edward's One Little Word class to help keep me more engaged with my word this year, I thought I would share a few of the introduction pages from my album.

I am also using a variety of size and style page protectors made by Simple Stories as well.
For my introductory page I created a 4x4 title card and I filled the two 2x2 spots with patterned paper squares. The first is a piece I had with windows and liked how the 2018 fills each window pane as if it's looking out to the year ahead. The yellow square on the right repeats the phrase "good things are going to happen". Perfect!

In the class example, Ali used a photo of herself in her introduction, so I decided to follow that formula with a recent selfie taken on one of my exercise days. The black and white script is the flip side of the yellow square with the "good things are going to happen." phrase. And the back of the window print paper had a pretty purplish color to match the flowers on the 3x4 card on the facing page. I used a chipboard flower from the same collection as the paper to embellish it and coordinate.

Ali's OLW class has one lesson with a prompt per month. For January, she just wanted us to write about our word, and provided several printable cards to use in our albums to help jump start our writing. I didn't use all of the writing prompts she provided, but just chose a few I felt would be helpful to me. So for page three I used the Reason Why card explaining why I wanted to choose Self Care as my focus this year.

As I said in my last post, I am taking my word even further by choosing monthly self care goals to concentrate on. So I created my own journal block with patterned paper and a washi tape border explaining my plan. My goal in January has been exercise and I am waiting to complete those pages at the end of this month. Hard to believe we are almost there!

On the next page, I chose the Definition and Quotation cards to explore my word further. And as I wrote them down, I realized that I truly had found the perfect word for what I want to accomplish this year. Then I embellished the back of my journal card from the previous page with some encouraging phrases. The Year Ahead question page finishes off my introduction for now.

So this is what I have so far! I am looking forward to working on my pages for my January goal, and then finding out what the February lesson will be in class. I am feeling pretty excited!

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

My husband and I love to watch movies together.
Before we had kids, we would go out to movie theaters for date nights pretty regularly.
After kids, not so much. Maybe once or twice a year if that.
But now that our kids are getting older, we are finding time to go either with them or just on our own.

In the last six weeks, we have seen six movies - three of them in the theater and three at home. So I just want to share a little review of some of these movies. I have tried hard not to spoil anything for those who haven't seen them yet. But just in case, if you are still waiting to see any of these movies, you may want to skip that review for now!

First up...

Wonder
Ok this first one, my husband and I didn't actually see together. My daughter and I have been reading the book together and a little bit on her own. She loves this book and really wanted to see the movie. So over Thanksgiving weekend, the boys went to see Justice League (on my list, too!) and we went to Wonder. I'm so glad we did. It was great to have a movie date with her and we both loved it. I honestly thought the cast was fabulous. Jacob Tremblay in the lead role was so believable and sweet. Plus, you can never go wrong with Julia Roberts in my book. I'm a huge fan, and I felt such a connection with her in this role as a mom. Plus, you have Owen Wilson for comedy relief and I had to say he would make a pretty cool dad. I thought Izabela Vidovic was perfect as Auggie's sister, too. Her story was just as powerful as Auggie's in my opinion because she loves her family but feels on the outside at the same time due to her parents needing to be there for Auggie. In addition, she is struggling with the loss of a friendship, while finding love and new interests at the same time. Noah Jupe as Jack Will, Auggie's new best friend really showed how tough it is to want to stay loyal to friendship but at the same time feel pressured to give in to the crowd a little bit. Without giving too much away, I loved that he realizes the error of his ways, and friendship wins.

At times, it could feel a little preachy or as if it was purposefully trying to tug on our heartstrings. And I'm not a huge fan of that at all. But because I found the rest of this movie and it's message so fantastic, I was able to look past those moments which actually led to some discussions with my daughter later that I really enjoyed.

Wonder = 4 1/2 our of 5 stars for me

Star Wars: The Last Jedi
I was pretty excited about this one! My husband, son, a friend of my son's and I all went to see this one together. My daughter isn't into Star Wars like her mom, and opted to hang out at a friend's house instead.

I have loved the Star Wars saga since the first movie came out when I was a little girl. I am such a Star Wars geek and even have a Pinterest board titled Star Wars Geek Girl.
Lol, lame I know! But love it so much.
Seeing Return of the Jedi in the movie theater all those years ago is still one of my favorite Star Wars memories!

And when this movie started with the usual logo pop up and blare of the theme song, I got goose bumps!
I love that they have continued the story line. I really do love the new heroes. And at first I loved having the old characters back. But it's all so tragic really. I mean, Return of the Jedi was such a happy ending. Our heroes deserved their happy ending! But here we are all these years later, and Luke, Leia and Han have anything but a happy ending. It's a little depressing actually. And they are right back where they were during Star Wars a New Hope. The bad guys are winning!

My husband and I both agree completely that Kylo Ren just does not do it for us as a villain. He just comes across as a weak whiny brat. In fact, it almost seems at times as if those serving under him, are laughing at him. Nothing like the fear Darth Vader used to strike in the hearts of everyone who came across his path.That dude was seriously scary to me back then. And the final battle between Luke and Vader in Return of the Jedi, is one of my favorite fight scenes ever. But Kylo Ren just comes across so blah. And don't get us started on Snoke. He doesn't even look real and is not even worthy of being the big boss!
My theory though is that Kylo Ren just has to get worse. And by worse I mean more evil.
After all younger Anakin Skywalker in those first three movies, was much more annoying than anything. And he definitely had his fair share of temper tantrums even after he married Padme. But he turned into Darth Vader eventually, so I guess there is hope for Kylo Ren. Only time will tell.

And Luke (Mark Hamill) whom I had the biggest crush on in grade school, wasn't much better at first in this movie. He seemed to have just as many petulant tantrums as Kylo Ren. "No, I won't train you, Rey." "Yes, I'll train you." "No I won't go back." "Yes, I'll help". He just could not make up his mind.
But for all the faults, there were still many memorable and exciting moments. And some pretty funny one liners and jokes in true Star Wars humor. So as much as I wish some things could be different with this new series and movie, I still look forward to the next one!

3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Bright (on Netflix)
Next up is a sci fi, fantasy, action, mystery with a little bit of political commentary in the mix. This movie kind of couldn't make up it's mind what it wanted to be. But I love Will Smith and I thought Joel Edgerton did a great job in his role as the Orc cop buddy.
It was pretty loud, a little violent and kind of hard to watch in a few places. But I was hooked on the story overall wanting to see how it ended.
I generally like Will Smith in his roles, but his character was a little to cynical and jaded at times. Almost like they felt they had to keep hitting us over the head with it until the end when of course ultimately he softens a bit.
So much social commentary though with a little bit of a unique twist as far as elves and orcs. But really I found it a little uncomfortable how they tried to make orcs appear to fit into a racial category that already exists. It just did not come across as authentic at all.

On the plus side, it has a happy ending so I think for that reason, liking Joel Edgerton, and the elves fighting skills, I will give it
3 (instead of just 2 1/2) out of 5 stars.

The Circle
Another watch at home movie for the two of us, except this time on Amazon Prime. Can I just say we both hated this movie. Like really hated it! I mean with Tom Hanks (one of my favorite actors ever) and Emma Watson, how could you go wrong. But it did in so many ways. There was a little bit of good build up and mystery, but the ending was just so stupid and only a little satisfying that the "bad guys" got put in their place. And maybe it was just hard for me to see Tom Hanks in a not so nice after all kind of guy role. But frankly, I thought the dialogue was terrible and didn't help Emma Watson. I just didn't find her character very likeable at all, so it seemed odd that she would end up kind of saving the day. To say any more would just pretty much ruin the story I think, but not my favorite Tom Hanks movie. And I've seen them all. Well, except Turner and Hooch. Big slobbery dogs, not my thing.

1 star out of 5 and only because well Tom Hanks.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
We watched this one at home on Netflix. Finally! We'd been wanting to see it for awhile and were finally able to fit it in over the holiday break.Loved it! I loved the first one, so I'm glad to say I liked the second one, too.
I mean the story line was a little bizarre, but really everything about these movies is bizarre. But in a good way to me.So many one liners that cracked us up. It's pretty funny in an often inappropriate way on so many levels, but we just roll with it. :)
And it's actually very sweet in parts when it comes to talking about family. The whole family doesn't have to be blood, to be real family rings pretty true here. I love movies with ultimately feel good happy endings and a fantastic soundtrack. I am definitely a classic rock kind of girl, so it's fun seeing how they used those types of songs in the movie.
Also, Chris Pratt is his usual cool self, and Groot steals the show in several scenes. But really the whole cast is pretty fantastic.

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

The Greatest Showman
And last but not least, is the most recent movie we went to at the theater. I was looking forward to this one a lot, and thankfully my husband was ok going with me. Although I don't think it was high on his list of must see's. But it seemed to have a Moulin Rouge feel to it and we both ended up liking that one. Plus, we take turns picking movies to see and it was my turn. Hey, if I can sit through Last Man Standing on date night, he totally can make it through a musical, right? lol

Anyway, there has been a lot of hype around this movie, and I will admit I was a little disappointed. I mean I think Hugh Jackman, Zendaya and the rest of the circus troupe were pretty amazing. I wasn't too crazy about Michelle Williams, and maybe it's just because she doesn't seem a musical type of actress to me. Also, I am not a huge Zac Efron fan, but I thought he did a pretty great job in his role as P.T. Barnum's partner, Phillip Carlyle.

The intro number was definitely an attention grabber. But the first part of the movie moved a little slowly to me as they set the groundwork for when the circus actually started to come together. Probably one of my favorite things about this movie was the choreography. I thought it was brilliant. Especially the musical number "Rewrite the Stars" with Zac Efron and Zendaya. It was really beautiful watching them dance around in the air. And the scenes with the circus troupe were always well choreographed. Huge props to the choreographer.

But the movie kind of let me down in a few areas.
I thought the musical numbers didn't always seem to flow well. And it seemed at times that the story could have been told better without a whole song and dance. When Michelle Williams started to sing Tightrope, my husband and I turned to each other and said "another musical number?"Ironically I did find myself listening to the soundtrack on Spotify the next day. So the songs were definitely in my head long after the movie.

I've seen a few complaints that the movie was not true to the characters. And that P.T. Barnum was a greedy, selfish narcissist. Actually, I thought the movie portrayed him like that quite a bit. He wasn't always the most likeable character and seemed to put his dreams first before all other things. I'm not sure if in real life he did ever come to the realization that people are more important than things or money, but of course the movie gave us that happy ending.

Where I thought the movie completely failed, was it's interpretation of Jenny Lind, the singer known as the "Swedish Nightingale". I guess for dramatic purposes they felt it was necessary to portray her as a selfish homewrecker. And from everything I have ever read about her, she seemed anything but that in real life. In the movie, she falls for P.T. Barnum, makes a move on him and then is so upset at his rejection, tries to ruin his business and life! Seriously? She was actually known for being a philanthropist. And the rumor is actually that she split from working for him because he was just too over the top. I thought it was just terrible how they made her character completely unlikable. Talk about poetic license and not in a good way. A real disservice to turn someone of good character into the complete opposite.

So despite it's flaws, I did find many things to like about this movie. But instead of being 4 or 5 stars
I can only give it 3 1/2

And that is it for movie reviews here at the Scrapbook Treehouse!Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think?

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

We had such a great holiday break as a family!
My husband was back from working out of town for almost three weeks! It was pretty great to have him here so many days in a row. We made the most of it for sure!

But now we are getting back into routine, and I have so much I want to talk about in upcoming posts over the next few weeks! I have a few book and movie reviews. I want to talk more about my One Little Word progress that I introduced in This Post. It's really going well so far and I think the blog will be a good place to record how it's going. I want to talk about scrapbooking and how I am going to be doing more of it and working on my photography skills in 2018. Plus, I have a ton of new podcasts and favorite tv shows on the list, too. Pinterest is another love of mine, and I plan to do some posts on my Pinterest successes, failures and fun finds.

One thing I do know, is that my blog will be taking a tiny bit of a different direction as far as family sharing. It is going to be more like my public Instagram account I started recently. Back in the beginning of December, I thought again about what type of online presence I want to have for me and my family. It was a little eye opening to discover through the bloglovin app that a few people had started following my blog that made me extremely uncomfortable. And once again it helped me realize that I truly have no idea who is actually reading here. There is no way to block someone from reading my blog unless I make it completely private, and I already have a blog like that for the real personal family stuff. I kind of like to have a blog where I can share fun things about hobbies and travel and my progress with healthy living. In a way, it keeps me accountable and I enjoy sharing these things I love with others.

But I do not plan on posting a lot of personal info or photos for the foreseeable future. My kids are at an age where they prefer not to have their private lives and photos on the internet and I respect that. So if I don't have their permission, I'm not posting. Occasionally they will let me share something. But family and friends who are still reading here, if you want that kind of info it will most likely be over on Facebook or my private Instagram.

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

As 2017 comes to a close, I have to say one of the highlights of the year was our 20th wedding anniversary trip to Europe. I really enjoyed sharing those posts about it here on the blog. Each time I shared our stories, it was a little like reliving our adventures all over again.

But now it's time to switch gears and start looking toward 2018!
One of my biggest scrapbook inspirations is Ali Edwards who pretty much started the One Little Word concept quite a few years back. Basically you choose a word for the year and make it your focus. Some of the words I have chosen in the past are Breathe, Focus, Humor and Peace.

I've made a few scrapbook layouts over the years documenting my word, and I hope to do the same this year. Last year I tried something new and created a journal for my word Trust instead, but only filled about half of it.
That is what typically happens. I always start out pretty strong and than it kind of ebbs out. But I still try to keep my word in the back of my mind when dealing with life. Such as remembering to see the humor in things when life gets tough, trying to focus on priorities, keeping peace in my home and with others, or simply breathing when anxiety is once again trying to close in on me. I use my word to help ground me and keep things light. The way I see it, I have one life to live. I can do it in a constant state of worry, stress and frustration. Or I can choose to see the positive and use my word to help me find a way to do just that!

This year I am choosing to focus on "Self Care". Ok, I know that it's really two words technically, but it's one concept. I am choosing to take care of myself so I can take care of others. So I can be the best wife, mom, friend, and person I can be. The healthier and happier I am, the more I have to give. The less anxious and stressed I am, the more peace and joy I can share. This is my goal for 2018 - to practice self care.

I used to think taking time to care for myself was selfish. That everyone else needed to come first. And most of the time I do still end up put my family first. But I also know that I need good sleep, I need exercise, I need to make sure I am eating well, and I need to do the things that make me feel happy. I have definitely made progress this past year. If I am having one of those days where I just don't have the energy to deal anymore, I know it's ok to put on an episode of Supernatural and just take 45 minutes to relax and regroup. Or instead of just talking about how much I want to do it, I actually will go and get a facial or massage. It makes me feel good and has positive benefits! Or instead of just thinking about how great it would be to join the YMCA and take a strength class, I decided to finally do it! So I am on the road already, but I know I want to keep moving in the right direction.

And since I know that in the past I kind of lose a bit of steam with my word come Spring, I signed up for Ali's One Little Word Workshop. I think it will be a good way to keep me engaged and reconnect with my word once a month to see how I am doing. This is a really important goal for me this year, because I see progress but I know there are areas where I could still improve!

Monday, December 4, 2017

Well for our last day in Switzerland and our trip, we had made big plans to take the train from Zurich to Vitznau to Mount Rigi and actually get into the countryside. Unfortunately, I was sick as hell overnight and not any better the next morning. Let's just say that sausage and German potato salad are now on my list of foods that I will never eat again.

I absolutely did not want Mike to miss out on the adventure though. I could tell he was hesitant to leave me, but really we had seen all there was to see in Zurich. And I did not want him to have to stay with me while I was so very sick. We had come all this way and I was so glad he was able to get out of Zurich for a bit and visit Mount Rigi.

He did stock me up on some fluids though before heading to the train station. And I spent the day in bed watching Netflix on my phone. Thankfully, he was able to send me photos and Snapchats throughout the day. And while it wasn't as good as being there with him in person, it was enough.
So most of the photos I am sharing in this post are his.

I have to admit, seeing this one...

made me a little bummed. Visiting Switzerland and seeing the mountains has definitely been on my bucket list for a long time. And this was pretty much how I had pictured it. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

He took the train from Zurich to Vitznau which takes about an hour. Then from there he took the cogwheel railway up Mount Rigi

Then came photos from the top as he made his way back down

Just Mike - Mount Rigi, Switzerland - August 5, 2017

The best was the Snapchat video he sent me. It was so quiet and peaceful except for the faint sound of cowbells in the background. And his caption was "I need more cowbell" which is from one of our fave Will Ferrell Saturday Night Live skits.

Next he took a boat ride across Lake Lucerne to the city of Lucerne so he could catch the train back to Zurich.

Here are a few of the photos he took from the boat.

Arriving in Lucerne, Switzerland

He said he walked around Lucerne a little bit, grabbed something to eat and then headed back to Zurich on the train. I think the trip in all took him between 7-8 hours.
When he came back I was feeling better but not great.

So he found me some pretzels and a few more drinks.
No steps today because I didn't even leave the hotel room.

Thankfully the next day, I was feeling a lot better. Our flight to Chicago took between 8-9 hours, and then another shorter 45 minute flight to get home. If I was going to be sick, I am grateful it wasn't the day of our trip home!

And just like that, our trip was over.
Eleven days in Europe and I enjoyed every single one. Not even my sick day could ruin it, because we had a trip I will never forget!